By: Sam Boender
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. – The Colorado School Mines Men's and Women's Swimming teams closed the 2023 RMAC Swimming & Diving Championships on Saturday night fueled by a gold medal and RMAC title from senior
Meghan Slowey.
In the final team standings, the Oredigger women finished #2 and the men were #3 thanks to 717 points and 726 points, respectively. Colorado Mesa won both team titles with Oklahoma Christian's men taking #3. Slowey's individual crown marked Mines' lone gold medal of the meet.
Kerrigan Hemp added to Slowey's gold by turning in another program record. Overall, Mines' Saturday night resulted in seven All-RMAC awards, five NCAA times, and four medals.
1650-Freestyle
Slowey brought home gold with a NCAA "B" time of 17:10.74. It brought in 20 team points and made her the #4 individual scorer in the meet on the women's side.
Isabella Bono took #4 in 17:50.44.
Scott Reeder's top finish in the early finals placed him #6 on a time of 16:20.51. Other final placings from the early heats were
Jake Sherman at #9,
Jaron O'Grady at #11, and
Andres Saa at #13 which meant all distance Orediggers scored team points in the event.
100-Freestyle
On the women's side,
Annie Osmun was #9 in 52.48 and
Jorie Selig was #13 in 52.99. That resulted in 13 team points. The men had
Garrett Waite take #6 in a NCAA "B" time of 45.11.
Jakson Winn also had a "B" cut in the "B" finals with a time of 45.07.
Seth Krause (45.91),
Michael Kietzman (46.10), and
Sam LaPrade (47.09) combined to put 11 more points towards the men's team score.
200-Backstroke
Kerrigan Hemp set the women's program record and finished #4 in 2:03.03. That proved good enough for #4 in the conference and Second-Team All-RMAC distinction.
Emi Jedryka and
Emma Neuroth scored for Mines in the "B" finals thanks to times of 2:06.40 and 2:10.70, respectively.
Braden Whitmarsh (1:51.75) and
Luca Burns (1:51.41) tallied points for the men.
200-Breaststroke
In the most Oredigger-heavy event of the evening,
Jordan Tierney led the way by taking bronze and Second-Team All-RMAC honors thanks to a NCAA "B" cut of 2:20.86. The rest of the "A" finals for Mines included
Olivia Kisow (2:23.74),
Claire Lautman (2:24.48), and
Cameryn Schmidt (2:24.96) finishing #5, #6, and #8, respectively.
Ava Burger added three team points to the standings from "B" finals on a time of 2:28.35.
For the men,
Jack Engler was Second-Team All-RMAC at a pace of 2:04.59.
Ronan Lauinger (2:05.37) and
Gavin Gilmore (2:05.66) went #6 and #7. From the "B" finals,
Charles Burroughs (2:06.83) and
Gavin Moore (2:07.38) worked out 13 more points towards the team total.
400-Freestyle Relay
Mines' men and women closed the championships by sweeping bronze in the last relay.
Jordan Tierney,
Olivia Kisow,
Maggie Wells and
Meghan Slowey teamed up for a time of 3:31.13 to take #3 and Second-Team All-RMAC distinction for the women.
Michael Kietzman,
Garrett Waite,
Braden Hunt, and
Seth Krause touched in 3:00.85 to take #3 for the men.
Emma Neuroth,
Emi Jedryka,
Sophia Buhr, and
Kylie VanderMeer added 14 more points to the women's total as part of the "B" relay.
Gavin Moore,
Joe Peak,
Charles Burroughs, and
Luca Burns did the same for the men.
Fans can keep up with Mines swimming on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @MinesSwimming. They can also keep up with Colorado School of Mines Athletics all year long on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram using the handle @MinesAthletics
